Not being paid but had no formal letter of dismissal and have not formally resigned

Blackbox2

Hi, i am employed by my husband. I recently left my husband and was meant to be paid on the 30th April, a sunday so should have been the 28th April. I did not get paid and therefore requested my P45. I did not receive a formal letter of dismissal and i did not resign. His accountant did issue me a P45 on my request and asked my last date of employment. Is this legal ? I wasn' given any notice and have worked part time 16 hours a week since 2014. I have received my P45 so does that mean i am not entitled to anything?

TBagpuss

I would imagine that by requesting your P45 you may have shot yourself in the foot as this could be interpreted as you giving notice.

If that is that case, then you are entitled to be paid for the work you did, and for any accrued but untaken holiday, so you should get your April Pay.

Undervalued

Blackbox2 wrote: »

Hi, i am employed by my husband. I recently left my husband and was meant to be paid on the 30th April, a sunday so should have been the 28th April. I did not get paid and therefore requested my P45. I did not receive a formal letter of dismissal and i did not resign. His accountant did issue me a P45 on my request and asked my last date of employment. Is this legal ? I wasn' given any notice and have worked part time 16 hours a week since 2014. I have received my P45 so does that mean i am not entitled to anything?

Did you actually work for him or was this a convenient tax arrangement to get an amount equal to your tax allowance out of the business?

Blackbox2

I thought i may have shot myself in the foot too.

As his accountant asked me for my last date of employment I said the 31st March, my last payment so would I still get paid for April ? I did actually work for him, admin, invoices, arranging repairs for hus properties. There was no contract though.

IAmWales

Blackbox2 wrote: »

I thought i may have shot myself in the foot too.

As his accountant asked me for my last date of employment I said the 31st March, my last payment so would I still get paid for April ? I did actually work for him, admin, invoices, arranging repairs for hus properties. There was no contract though.

Did you do any work in April and can you evidence this?

Blackbox2

I was not given any work. Although I still thought I was employed.

Who would work out the holiday pay I am entitled too, hus accountant ? I worked 16 hours a week.

IAmWales

Blackbox2 wrote: »

I was not given any work. Although I still thought I was employed.

Who would work out the holiday pay I am entitled too, hus accountant ? I worked 16 hours a week.

Did you attend work? The work you describe would not normally need to be given, there would be a natural flow of invoices, emails and so on. Were you denied the opportunity to do this work?

If his accountant did the payroll then they should calculate any holiday pay outstanding.

Blackbox2

As I worked from the house we both lived in and left I did not have access to the files. So I wasn't necessarily denied just had no access.

Should I contact his accountant and request my outstanding holiday pay ? Does it matter that I didn't have a formal contract ?

IAmWales

Blackbox2 wrote: »

As I worked from the house we both lived in and left I did not have access to the files. So I wasn't necessarily denied just had no access.

Should I contact his accountant and request my outstanding holiday pay ? Does it matter that I didn't have a formal contract ?

You chose to leave, you chose not to go to work. I certainly would not expect payment when it appears that it is you that ended your employment by your actions (that do not need to be in writing).

You should request your holiday pay from your employer. It may be the accountant that calculates it and they may be willing to speak to you but they are not obliged to take instructions from you. Your relationship remains with the employer.

Blackbox2

Ok. Thank you for your advice. I cannot talk to my employer, I will ask my solicitor but ultimately I think I won't get paid any outstanding dues.

Thanks again.

Masomnia

I'd view the employment relationship as separate from your personal one.

From what you've said it sounds more like a resignation than anything else, so I wouldn't have thought that you would be entitled to notice. That said, the accountant probably just assumed that you resigned/were dismissed if you requested a P45 they're not employment law experts.

Where you would stand with a constructive dismissal claim I don't know, but I would be very interested in any previous cases if anyone knows of any as it is an unusual situation but surely has happened before!

The lack of a written contract is irrelevant, you're still entitled to be paid up to when you left + accrued holiday and you can pursue him in a small claims court if he doesn't cough up. If you were to argue you were dismissed you would be entitled to notice, which in the absence of a written contract would be 2 weeks in your case. You can always ask for it, and then if they don't pay you could ask your solicitor if it is worth following this up.